Fish
by RisemboolRanger
Summary: Drabble (Flash Fiction Project). You're not supposed to feel like a third wheel on your own date. And you shouldn't feel you're in boring company either. But if you can find a way to get something you want out of it, then maybe it isn't all that bad. Matt/OC


The night was chilly, the cold air sharp - particularly so, even for November. Mello huddled into the black fur of his coat. "What are we doing here?"

"I think the question is, what are _you_ doing here?" Lindsay said pointedly, bold as always.

"He gets bored at home," Matt answered tonelessly for him, not looking away from the handheld game he was playing as he walked, the tap of his fingers against the buttons unhindered by the hold of Lindsay's arm looped through his.

For two boys who had pretty much grown up together, Lindsay was amazed they still willingly spent so much time around each other. Sometimes she felt like _she_ was the third wheel. Some date this was. "Well, it sounds like he's going to be bored here too."

"That's because fairgrounds are for kids," Mello complained. "They don't even have any big rides here."

"But this is what you do on Bonfire Night. You go to the fairground and watch fireworks."

"If they even start the fireworks before we freeze or die of boredom," Mello grumbled.

Already tired of his complaining, Lindsay decided the best course of action was just to ignore him. She pointed towards some stalls. "Look, over there. Let's go play some games."

"Sure," Matt replied, though still more interested in the one in his hands. Lindsay sighed. Talk about having the most unsociable friends.

To be truthful, Lindsay wasn't really all that good at the hand-eye coordination type games that the fairground offered. She tended to blame her poor depth perception on years of alcohol abuse. She just thought that games would at least be a way to distract her from Mello's moaning and Matt's usual antisocial ways. Unless he perked up soon, then she was going home and watching the fireworks from her window by herself.

She tried the shooting gallery first, but was only able to knock down two cans. She wasn't too concerned about that - the prizes for the shooting gallery were always lame anyway - but Mello berated her efforts, pointing out that it was supposed to be the easiest and that was why it had the worst prizes. Of course, she ignored him. She had a go at the hoopla next and did even worse at that. Again, she blanked out Mello's criticism.

The only one that succeeded in irritating her was the buzz wire that you had to pass a metal loop over without touching it. Normally, she wouldn't have even bothered with that one, knowing what the outcome would be, but as they'd passed, she'd noticed the plastic bags of water hanging up with small orange streaks flitting about inside. You could win a goldfish. It was quite an old-fashioned practice now; Lindsay had never seen anywhere that did it before. But she'd always wanted a pet. So now she was determined to try and win a goldfish. It just sucked that her hand-eye coordination wasn't up to the challenge.

"You don't even have a goldfish bowl or anything to put it in," Mello reminded her, as Lindsay handed more money over to the stall vendor, so that she could try again. Matt was hovering nearby, still engrossed in his Nintendo. "What do you want a goldfish for?"

"I just want one, alright? I'll fill the fruit bowl with water until I can get to the pet shop tomorrow." The wire buzzed again as Lindsay's shaking hand touched the metal loop against it. "Damn it! This is impossible!"

The next thing she knew, Matt's Gameboy was being passed into her hands. "Take this." Lindsay gave him a quizzical look as he fumbled a hand into his pocket, producing a coin and handing it to the vendor. "Give me the hoop."

Lindsay obligingly passed him the looped metal stick and watched as he began threading it across the slowly rotating wire. Even behind lightly tinted goggles, his eyes were keen and his hand was steady. A near lifetime of gaming practice clearly had its benefits. Matt completed the wire track with ease.

"Which one do you want?" he asked Lindsay, looking up at the bags of goldfish.

Lindsay had already picked one out from the moment of her first attempt. "That one." The vendor unhooked the bag she pointed to and handed it to her. "Thank you." This wasn't shaping out to be such a bad date, after all. She turned back to Matt. "And thank you too."

Matt laid a hand on her spiky blonde hair. "No problem," he said indifferently.

Lindsay clutched the fish to her chest and relinquished Matt's Gameboy, which he immediately sank back into playing. This time, she didn't mind.


End file.
